An example of community triumphing over commerce, Ballast Point Park has officially opened after strong public opinion and action wrestled the important headland site from developers to preserve it as a piece of Sydney Harbour for the public. The park was returned to public ownership in 2002 when the state government acquired the site and announced that it would become a public headland park.
The much anticipated headland park, on iconic former Caltex site and designed by McGregor Coxall, is the culmination of years of community action, consultation, site remediation, design, implementation and construction.
The park is “inspirational” and “optimistic”, say the designers.
“It was an area that was blanketed with the grit of one of Australia’s heaviest industrialised areas, now exists a significant new addition to the Sydney experience,” a spokesperson for McGregor Coxall said.
The new park features on-site energy production generated by eight vertical axis wind turbines on a contemporary structure replacing one of the old site’s larger fuel storage tanks.
There are also elegant reinterpretations of the old Caltex site staircases provide dramatic access between the various site levels. Over time, the park will be covered in 34,000 plants grown from seeds collected locally, as well as water ponds with wetland plants that provide a habitat for local birds and frogs.
Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA) was entrusted with the management of transforming the site to a public park. In 2004 SHFA commissioned landscape architects Context, Anton James Design and CAB Consulting to develop a masterplan in consultation with local community groups.
In 2006, McGregor Coxall and its consultant team were awarded the design contract for design development, documentation and site supervision for the park. The design philosophy was to acknowledge the site’s past history while providing a park for the future.
